As Swansea City prepare to take on Southampton at St Mary’s, we take a closer look at the Saints.
Founded in 1885, Southampton have spent most of their history at the top flight of English football, with their most successful league result in the 1983-84 season finishing second to only three-time champions Liverpool.
After being relegated from the Premier League in the 2004–05 season, Saints spent seven seasons away from the most sensible flight, adding two years in League One, before being promoted to the Premier League in 2011–12.
They spent 11 seasons in the elite division – securing Europa League qualification on two occasions and finishing as high as sixth in that time – before being relegated at the end of last season.
Very well. Southampton are unbeaten in their last 15 league games, 10.
This race saw them rise to fourth position in the standings, a long way from the groups outside the play-off positions.
They have suffered only two defeats at home this season, as opposed to the two most sensible ones: Leicester and Ipswich.
The former Swans boss moved to St Mary’s this summer after two seasons at SA1.
The Scottish foreigner played for Wycombe Wanderers, Peterborough United, Norwich City, Rangers, Walsall and MK Dons during a 15-year career in the game, but is basically linked to the Canaries, who he helped to promotion twice to the Premier League.
Martin moved into coaching with MK Dons, where he won plaudits for his possession-based style of play and then joined Swansea in 2021.
He led the club to a back-to-back South Wales derby double, the first achieved in 110 years of play, and a tenth-place finish last season.
Jack Stephens. The defender has recently returned to fitness after a calf injury picked up in August.
Stephens came through the ranks at Plymouth before joining Saints in 2011 and joining their academy.
He made his first-team debut against Coventry in the FA Cup in 2012 and stepped up to the first-team squad ahead of their return to the Premier League in the summer of that year.
Stephens spent loan spells at Swindon, Middlesbrough and Coventry before himself with the Saints, helping them reach the Carabao Cup final in 2017.
He spent a season on loan at Bournemouth before signing a new contract with the Saints this summer.
Striker Adam Armstrong has been in superb form for Southampton, scoring 12 goals and setting up a further seven.
His tally of a dozen goals is lower than Blackburn’s Sammie Szmodics in the league.
Armstrong came through the ranks at Newcastle United to feature for the first team, also having loan spells with Coventry, Barnsley, Bolton and Blackburn, helping the latter secure promotion to the Championship.
He then joined Rovers on a full-time contract and in total scored 60 goals in games before moving to Southampton in 2021.
Since then, Armstrong has scored 17 goals in games.
Kyle Walker-Peters has two goals and two assists this season and has been among Southampton’s stand-out performers this term.
The Tottenham academy product enjoyed a season with the Saints in 2020 and then agreed a permanent deal.
Since then, he has made 142 appearances for them and brings real power to the flank.
Experienced Scotland international Stuart Armstrong has dovetailed well alongside former Swan Flynn Downes and Will Smallbone in midfield.
The former Celtic man has always had an eye for goal and he has three goals and an assist so far this term.
Armstrong has spells at Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dundee United, being part of the first team at Tannadice.
His performances led to him moving to Parkhead in 2015, and Armstrong won 4 league titles, two Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups before joining Southampton in 2018.
Since then, he has scored 19 goals in 180 appearances, while Armstrong has also won 48 caps for Scotland and is part of their Euro 2020 squad.